Marie Lukasik Wallace ~ # I LIVE Poetry – I'm passionate about life and writing and all things creative and poetic!

Hello friends, though it’s been awhile since I’ve written here, I have been creating behind the scenes, and it’s time to share with you! I am creating a Romance Cookbook; it’s a book with a little about dating; and lot about communication and a little bit of a sweet romantic story. I hope you will join me on this adventure.

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This meme hits me to the core of how I feel about a sisterhood of women. If collaborating with one woman makes a situation better, imagine collaborating with a team of women who all have your back. I’m so blessed to have many women in my life who love me and support me and lift me up high! Our souls truly are joined and we see the best in each other. We accept each others tears and vulnerability…and of course, we have great laughter too.

Hello! I love hearing about your side of the world and sharing mine with you too! This entry comes from some questions from Cee’s Photogrpahy challenge of SHARE YOUR WORLD (SYW)

HERE ARE MY ANSWERS

What is your favorite cheese? All cheeses are my friend! I have some favorites, but I am still positive I haven’t found all my favorites yet. Some great contenders are: Havarti – great in ANY sauce or stand alone. My brother puts it in Chicken Fried Steak and gravy. I like Asiago in Italian dishes…and an easily accessed favorite of course is always cheddar – sharp, medium or mild. I’m all for trying new cheese, especially while traveling!

Are you left or right handed?

I’m left handed. Back when I grew up left handed, it was considered evil to be left handed, and I would get my hand tied behind my back. When I ate at the dinner table, I had to eat at the end so as not to distract or interrupt anyone else. Because I wanted to sit somewhere else, I learned to eat right handed. There were no left handed scissors, so I learned to do more precise things like cutting with scissors or a knife with my right hand.

But all sports and writing are left handed.

Do you prefer exercising your mind or your body? How frequently do you do either?

I know it’s important to exercise my body, and I enjoy it. But I PREFER to exercise my mind! I DEVOUR every piece of information I can get – books, video, conversations with people.

Complete this sentence: Hot days are … GREAT! I enjoy the energy and warmth of the sun

Optional Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

Having time to celebrate twenty years of marriage to my best friend. We had alone and quiet time from the busyness of our lives. It was awesome!

Many many years ago, there was an awesome web-site called Poetry Thursday. Sad to say, its time came where they closed and many of us poets were left in a lurch

I loved this web-site because every Thursday we could look forward to a place to post our Poetry and we were stretched in ways we had not been stretched before. We did more than prompts, we were pushed to be poets outside of our closets and quiet offices. We pushed our limits past our homes even.

One day, we were told about Guerilla Poetry, and I fell in love with curiosity and intrigue.

Here is a post that explains what it is: http://redroomcompany.org/media/uploads/spineout-collabo/spineout_guerrilla_poetry.pdf

I don’t know if that’s truly where things originated, but at least it gives you an idea what it is.

WHY I LIKE IT: I like it because it puts beauty in unsuspecting places. I’ve seen poetry on subways; I’ve seen performance poetry on the street; I’ve done “Poem in your Pocket” for people in April. I’ve even left poems at a coffee shop. Once someone contacted me (because I left my site address on the poem), and they said they weren’t normal people who

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Today I wanted to talk to you about some important advice given to me 20 years ago for a language class and how it applies to real life.

You see, we think we have to KNOW all the answers; or understand all that is going on or even want to control the outcome or situation of something happening in our lives. When in reality, if we sit back and are present, enjoying the moment it’s so much better. We are neither worrying about the past nor anxious of the future. There’s fun in the not knowing what’s going. Really! Sometimes things come out even better than we imagined!

CASE IN POINT:

It was HAPPY THURSDAY! Do you get it? Happy Thursday, and so it required a skip in my step because it was a day I always looked forward to – an element of surprise. It was my adventure to be willing to live with vagueness.

When I got to the door, it had a sign on it that read: Enter my Queen. A rush of adrenaline pumped my veins! I could hardly contain the excitement. First, a girl mostly always likes the idea of being “Queen for a day,” second, Joe had consistently been reciprocating SURPRISES with me. One of the few guys who had.

Thoughts of : “I wonder what he’s up to? Where will we go?” entered my head.

And more thoughts: “I do have to teach tomorrow, and I need to stop by the art store on the way. I wonder how that will work with the plans?”

As I slowly entered the door, I noticed rose petals trailed to the bedroom.

Now, I KNOW what you might be thinking is my surprise…but wait for it…wait for it.On the bed was a Queen’s costume with a note that asked me to get dressed and wait until he arrived. Oooooooh!

The dress had glittery gold and lace and it was gorgeous! Annnnnd. It fit. I waited with anticipation when there was a knock on the door, when he opened it up he was handsomely dressed as a king and had a blind fold in his hand. Yes! A big surprise awaits!

His sister was at the front door and was dressed as a chauffeur. Anticipation was building inside me. I felt I could explode at any moment! I chose to stay present. As I entered the “limo,” he blindfolded me. ooh…yeah…more excitement building. Out of curiosity, more than a need to know, I turned on all my senses to try and detect where I was…and then came the familiar railroad track thump and then a road bump, bump. We were at Rosemary’s!

When he took the blindfold off, I was right, we were at Rosemary’s. He took my hand to cross a small bridge over a Koi pond and into the tea house. I had created one of our first surprises here, full of very fond memories. Joe was recreating our date, complete with a specially made dinner, great conversation, and Yanni playing in the background, finishing it off with.a reading of a children’s book, the Table where the Rich People Sit.

Man, I LOVE this man! How he went to such detail to recreate the whole event. As we were crossing the bridge, he stopped in the middle and got down on one knee. Again I was thinking: What’s happening? Is this what I think it is? Is he ready? Am I ready?

He was fumbling around in his tights searching for something because he wasn’t used to wearing such garb.

And then out burst forth a shiny gem full of love and promise.

Fast forward to today: What if I was trying to control the outcome or wanted to know right now what was going to happen? What if I stayed stuck in the worry I had a lesson to teach tomorrow and had to figure out a way to get to the art store now?

Some of this story might have lost its charm because I would have either the energy of frantic or worry, instead of being present and in the moment, enjoying what is happening.

So I have been very blessed with the lesson of “Being willing to live with vagueness, and that is only one example.

What would be richer or deeper in your life if you were willing to live with vagueness?

I am a writer, and I haven’t been writing except curriculum and proposals and not as much fun as my creative writing, so I’ve decided to give myself a 30 day challenge. I might use prompts; I might use pictures; I might just be silly, but my goal is to do some creative writing, even if it’s a little bit. I’m giving myself permission to write the worst Cr_ _…but at least I’m writing and getting my voice moving and working again. I have some books to finish!

Today’s prompt is BUMBLE. I am grateful to other sites who help a girl out.

Two years ago today, my daddy died. I’m a grown woman and still call him my daddy because that’s the relationship we developed shortly before his passing. Most of my life, our communication was strained, our understanding of each other minimal. He grew up in a time when feelings weren’t shared, especially men’s feelings. And I, a young girl and woman, was all feelings. He didn’t know how to speak my language, and I certainly didn’t know how to speak his language.

But in the last few years of his life, I think two years, we were able to slowly build and deepen our relationship. And though for me, it wasn’t as ideal as I imagined, it was a thousand times better than I hoped. A man who was once so closed I called him a vault, allowed me inside to learn more about him and leave a legacy…a man who rarely voiced anything, wrote poetry with me and was brave enough to share it with the world…a man who opened up to explain why he collected the junk he did and why he was still tender about his cars even after all these years shared his story…a man like many of us who wanted to leave this earth being understood by at least one person, allowed me in.

I was blessed to be that person.

I got a chance to video tape him and ask him questions. And though I didn’t get whole stories and still know little about the actual biography of his life, I do feel I know the heart of my dad and can say a few things in his name. He had so much, gambled with drinking and lost everything, and slowly rebuilt a life he felt comfortable with and lived on his own terms. I didn’t understand many of his quirky ways or why he was so reclusive, but I understand that he was genuinely happy and loved living, which is more than many people would say. I remember in his last months he said he didn’t want me to finish the book or at least he wanted me to write a sequel so he would live longer. I remember being really mad that he didn’t live longer and that I still haven’t finished the book.

Many of you followed me on my journey and cheered me along. I promise it wasn’t in vain. I am going to finish that book this year, even if it’s not perfect, because it was a promise I made to him. And maybe…just maybe my family will read it and feel the words as I felt them and know that we all have GREATNESS inside us..that sometimes our value and goodness are covered by shadows and darkness…and that we need to dig around and shine a light to uncover the Gold in the Soul.

For now, I will hold my Daddy in my heart and use the gifts I learned to guide me.

My plea to each of you is to think about what relationships in your life get to be better because you opened your ears and your heart a little more and you leaned into understanding. It is a most beautiful gift when you do. I can’t wait to hear what happens when you do.